I'm a Linux newbie with RH 8.0 I had DSL service through MSN for ~1 yr (worked for 6 months of that time). During this period, I used Windows and Linux, with the DSL working immediately upon installing RH on my pc without additional configuration. However, I mysteriously lost service for 1 month's time and MSN told me there was a red flag on my account and service was no longer available to me.

I'm still interested in high-speed internet service but the DSL experience has me a little nervous about signing on. I have read about using cable modem service with linux but remain confused, what additional hardware do i need (if any)? does anybody have any first hand experience with cable/linux configs? Any suggestions or thoughts on other options for me or internet configuration in general for newbies like myself are welcomed. The provider would be Cox cable if it helps. Let me know if I have not provided enough information.

you dont need any additional hardware if you had broadband before. cox will provide you the cabel modem, all you need is a network cable to connect that modem to your ethernet card and then enable dhcp on it. it is that simple.

I'm happy to hear that your convinced it will work. Just so I know, is the .exe file that cox sends on the cd-rom designed to enable dhcp the same way I would do it manually? Also, there seems to be some out there who have really struggled to get this cable/linux thing to work. Has something changed or were you convinced that it is that simple based on your own experience?

Everything that the exe file does you can actually setup manually on the windows (just helped a friend just last week with this) so it there isn't anything special that can not be done on the linux.

Just ask your local cox tech people what your local setup is like incoming and outgoing mail servers etc.